Lawmakers, DOT Officials Discuss Sharing Costs For I-40 Repairs

Officials estimate that repairs to the botched concrete paving job on I-40 from the Durham Freeway to U.S. 15-501 will cost millions of dollars. Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett told legislators that the federal government, Granite Construction, and HNTB Engineering should share in the repair costs with the DOT.

"I have never been pleased with failure," Tippett said. "This is a failure on my agency as well as the others we rely on."

Even if the federal government handles most of the $18 million to $30 million cost, those funds could be deducted from the Triangle's yearly allotment of road-building dollars. Triangle legislators want to spread that bill around.

"There's no doubt it should be re-allocated to the whole state," said Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake. "DOT engineers made a huge boo-boo. They don't work for Wake County or the Triangle's Division 5 -- they work for the whole state."

"I'm not an engineer, but I know enough about concrete to know you'd better put some kind of a joint in it," said Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake. "That's pretty basic, and I don't understand how that fundamental of a mistake could be made by people who are well-qualified engineers."

There is at least one place in the Triangle where the DOT successfully used the concrete-overtop-of-asphalt paving technique -- along the Beltline near Poole Road. The difference is that inspectors made sure expansion joints were cut properly.

DOT officials are still trying to figure out exactly who should be disciplined or fired for the mistake, and how much the repair will cost. They will consider how the department wants to handle the repair costs at the state Board of Transportation's meeting next month. The matter could still end up in court.